The first proper run out

We've done a few trips out in the car but since finishing all the mechanical work and getting the car set-up on a rolling road we'd not been out for a proper drive. So on a hot sunny Sunday morning and with a friend's VX220 for company I went out for a morning's drive.

The route we took was a familiar one, A34 down to Alderley Edge, B5087 to Macclesfield, A537 up to the Cat & Fiddle Inn, then back down the A54 to Congleton. For the first time the drive out would allow us to understand how the car performed against another car and see if it behaved itself on a longer drive out.

The other car was a standard VX220 N/A which has 145 bhp, but weighing only 875kg means it has 168 bhp/ton. From a standing start the VX had a lot more low down power and the Renault appeared to be slightly sluggish in comparison, it really was apparent that if not kept above 3,500 - 4,000 rpm the Renault could not keep up with power delivery in the VX. However when the Renault was up to speed and on a twisty road and kept in the desired rev range it could easily hold it's own. In the corners the VX handled slightly better but accelerating out of the corners the Renault could pull away. It was a pretty even match with each car exploiting its strengths on each of the roads we went down.

One other thing to remember when comparing cars is that turbo cars, especially turbo cars with a large turbo and small engines can be laggy.  Driving against a normally aspirated car on the road - means we will have to thrash it to make our power work.  As already stated this is tricky to do on public roads. However on track this is much less of an issue, we are far more likely to keep our car in the power band and keep the lag to a minimum, but ultimately we will find out on the track.

Picture of the TrackBitch on A537 - Cat & Fiddle

The triangle of roads we use can be pretty busy on a Sunday however we seemed to get lucky, particularly on the final stretch towards Congleton, with no traffic on large sections of the road.

The car can be quite savage when on boost and you have to be quite careful not to mash the throttle as it can lead to the wheels spinning up (maybe some better rubber can assist with some of this). The car now handles a lot better since we have restored the axle back to its original ride height and added the GAZ adjustable shocks, however I still need to build up the confidence with the cars limitations, something I don't want to be doing on public roads. As mentioned previously it is critical to keep the car on boost and any incorrect gear changes will lead to the car bogging down and not being able to get back up to speed as quick as you might like.

Picture of the TrackBitch on A54 (note the average speed cameras now on the road)

On the trip out a couple of people even passed positive comments when seeing the car, a nod of appreciation from a biker and complements from an Audi owner who use to own one himself.

Overall the car performed very well and we're now confident that it should not embarrass itself on its first track day. We've booked Cadwell Park on Wednesday 3rd August  so we'll soon find out.

Setting the car up - an update.

The car was now setup and ready for it's first track day, however there was something that we thought was not quite right, the bhp we were producing seemed a little low. Whilst 157 bhp was a good performance gain and is still a lot of fun to drive, we were hoping for about another 10 - 15 bhp more from our set-up. This led one of the more mechanical owners of TrackBitch to head to the forums and enquire about what we have got, with some interesting responses.

We had measured the boost pressure from the carb top whilst most owners of Renault 5 GTT measure them from the carb base as you lose 4-5 psi through the carb itself and it gives a more accurate reading as to what the engine is actually getting. This could mean the car has even more potential than we think. See some thoughts below:-


With regards to BHP
Our rolling road said - 143bhp at the wheels but calculated 157.6 bhp at the flywheel. When the rolling road calculated flywheel BHP at the start he calculated a drive train loss of around 20%. For some unknown reason once tuned he calculated a drive train loss of about 10% - which is physically impossible. Drive train loss is much more consistent, if anything it is more at low power NOT less, in his calculations for us drive train loss changed and was FAR more at high power?

Talking to the guys on RTOC.org and using a 2wd loss calculator on line it is FAR MORE likely that our flywheel power is now 170bhp.  You can do the same by entering your drive train type (front, rear or 4 wheel drive) and wheel HP here
http://www.dyno-power-run.com/dynocalc.shtml

If you enter fwd and 143 whp in to this calc it gives our car a maximum 170bhp and a power to weight of 205bhp per tonne. We still have the option to safely add about 3 psi of boost (due to setting up at around 15psi carb base instead of 18psi carb base).

So we can probably expect 180+ bhp in the near future.

Ultimately what really matters is wheel horse power - torque at the wheels is the only accurate measurement a rolling road can offer, but as manufacturers use flywheel horse power (because they dyno their engines on a bench not in the car) then we have used flywheel bhp for comparison to other cars.

Lastly, we don't think we have a lazy turbo - we think at high boost (20psi +) we may well have a boost leak, probably at the wastegate, due to wastegate creep (probably caused by our poorly T3 actuator - which has no adjustment in it) or a possible leak elsewhere in the boost pipe work or the inter-cooler.


The full posting can be read on RTOC but you'll need to sign in to read it.

Setting the car up - A job for a professional & a rolling road

We all decided that we should get the car set-up properly, plus if set-up on a rolling road then we would finally find out what we had under the bonnet. Finding places that have rolling roads is quite easy, however finding places that have rolling roads and can set a car up that has a carburettor is a little harder to find. After an afternoon of internet searching and numerous phonecalls, one member of Team TrackBitch found Ric Wood Motorsport in Stockport, we asked if he could set it up on the following Saturday, but were told it was not possible as he was at Oulton Park assisting the touring car teams for BTCC. Nothing but the best for the TrackBitch.

The car was booked in for the following week and we all placed bets on what bhp we would achieve. I was hoping for around 175bhp, other team members whilst hoping for that sort of figure thought around 160bhp maybe closer to the mark. Setup wasn't cheap either at £150 per hour but it is worth doing a proper job. The car was the last one to be worked on that day, so we had an impatient day waiting to find out. After a couple of hours the car was done, interestingly the car was running lean, when we thought it was running rich, so probably a good job it was set-up by a professional.

So, onto the important bit, the figures....

Starting figures
Maximum Power - Wheels - 105.0 bhp @ 5,510 rpm
Maximum Power - Engine - 125.2 bhp @ 5,500 rpm
Maximum Torque - 128 lbft @ 4,206 rpm

Out of the factory they were 118bhp so we started in a favourable position.

Finishing figures
Maximum Power - Wheels - 143 bhp @ 5,133 rpm
Maximum Power - Engine - 157.6 bhp @ 6,204 rpm
Maximum Torque - 166.4 lbft @ 4,803 rpm

So we'd not quite made the 175 bhp we were after, Ric did say that our Turbo seemed a little weak, which was a bit worrying but that is probably what you get when you have a little gamble on eBay.

Picture below shows print out from the day.

So we didn't quite make what we were hoping for, however the car now feels so much different, the turbo when it kicks in is quite savage (easy to wheel spin in second in the dry) and if you keep the power above 3,500 rpm you can get from A to B pretty quickly. Clearly it is not a car for 0-60 times but on track driven correctly we are hoping to trouble some more serious hardware.

Looking at bhp per ton figures and using the performance calculator on Letstorquebhp this gives us:-

158bhp
831kg
Power to weight of 193bhp


To compare this, listed below are a few bhp per ton figures for some hot hatches.

Standard Renault 5 GTT - 146 bhp/ton
Honda Civic Type R - 158 bhp/ton
Mini Cooper S Works - 170 bhp/ton
Renault Clio 182 Cup - 168 bhp/ton
Renault Megane R26R - 189 bhp/ton
VW Golf R - 178 bhp/ton
Ford Focus RS - 208 bhp/ton

So, new turbo fitted, new rear axle, new rear suspension and a rolling road set-up. Let the fun commence.

There has been a further update since this was written. Please read - Setting the car up - an update

Finally fitting the turbo

All three Team Trackbitch team members were back together and we were aiming to finally get the car back on the road. This time were were also joined by an honorary team member Dave Oates who is a professional photographer, he kindly took a load of pictures of us all hard at work which have been used through this posting, he also helped us out with his mechanical knowledge.

The turbo was assembled off the car to check all the bodged connectors we'd fitted all came together. With the new larger turbo, larger actuator and larger oil-in line it really was going to be a tight fit. We'd been able to use an adapted oil-out line off a Renault 21 Turbo which seemed to fit OK, the water in and out only required one new banjo bolt and the oil-in fitted with a bit of a squeeze. it was just the actuator again from a Renault 21 Turbo that took a bit of tweaking to fit in place.

Hole where the turbo was going - Picture from www.davidoates.net

With the turbo assembled off the car we first had to re-fit the downpipe. Whilst this was off the car we welded in an AFR boss, we could then use an AFR gauge to set the car up and also use on trackdays to check our air/fuel mix was correct. The downpipe proved to be an awkward part to get back on the car and took numerous attempts to finally get attached. With the car only on axle stands it was also difficult working on the car with limited space. After a lot of swearing and forcing the part was attached.

Numerous nuts & bolts, turbos and tools - picture from www.davidoates.net

As the car was having a new turbo we also chose to change the coolant as we didn't want to overheat our new turbo. In theory, this wasn't too hard a job, simply disconnect a couple of hoses near the radiator, flush through with a hose pipe, connect the hoses, add new coolant and then bleed the system. For some reason it was pretty difficult to get to the radiator hoses and we spent quite a lot of time taking more of the car apart to get better access to the hose clips. After a lot of swearing and cursing the clips were undone and the system was drained making a real mess over the driveway!

Time for a break - Normandy Cider - picture from www.davidoates.net

New coolant was added and system was bled. Now it was time to finally fit the turbo.

The turbo went on OK, oil-out, water in & out were connected up fine. It was the oil-in and actuator that proved to be troublesome, because we'd fitted a new oil-in pipe it was a very tight fitting and the larger actuator was competing for space in the engine bay, however after more swearing we'd finally got the new turbo on and all nuts torqued up.

Picture of Team Trackbitch hard at work - taken by www.davidoates.net

Finally, the new turbo was on. Next step was to prime the turbo with oil before turning the engine over, this is done by disconnecting the electronic ignition and allowing the oil pump to pump oil around the engine. In theory, you turn the engine over (but not fire up) for a couple of minutes and this primes the turbo, the electronic ignition is reconnected and then you start the car properly. However, the car was turning over but the oil pressure light was not going out, we disconnected the oil-in line at the sump to see if any oil had been pumped through but the banjo bolt was completely dry. It looked like we had an oil pump problem or maybe a lazy oil pump that need the engine running to pump oil through?

The way to test this was reconnect the electronic ignition and hope we had a lazy oil pump, if we did we'd see oil come out of the banjo bolt. The ignition was plugged back in and the engine turned over, we must have loosened the banjo quite a lot as it dumped around half a litre of oil on the drive (with no catch pan). We had a lazy oil pump.

We attempted to reconnected the oil-in pipe, but it was at such high tension at the turbo side it was impossible to screw back in. This now meant we had to disconnect quite a few of the turbo parts to then reconnect the oil-in line. It appeared you needed a lot of time and patience when embarking on a car project!!

TURBO BOOST - Picture by www.davidoates.net

30 minutes later and everything was put back together, all that was left to do now was start the engine. The engine was turned over and The Baron was alive again, there was still a bit of blue smoke, but the old turbo had dumped quite a lot of oil in the exhaust. After running for a few minutes this began to clear.

Video of engine running for the first time with new turbo.

On the test drive the new turbo appeared to boost fine, kicks in a bit later (around 3,000 - 3,500 revs when compared to 2,500 with the smaller T2) but we did expect this with a larger turbo. It also only boosted to 12psi when compared to 20 psi with the T2. This should mean there is quite a bit of tweaking we can do :o)

Due to it once again starting to get dark and everyone short of time, we cut the test drive short. But, at last The Baron was up and running, all we have to do now is set the car up properly, could be a job for a professional at a rolling road.

Finishing the back axle & suspension

Two Team Trackbitch members met 10 days later, the target was to finish off the rear end and get the car off the axle stands. We'd managed to attach the axle successfully 10 days ago so all that we had to do today was remove the old knackered shocks, fit the new shocks, reattach the brake lines, handbrake cables and bleed the brakes.

Getting the old shocks off was a bit of a pig but after lots of WD40 they both came off, it was only after removing the shocks did we realise how buggered the rear suspension had actually been, when you compressed the shock it would take forever for them to rebound. We were fitting perhaps the best shocks that were available for the Renault 5 -  GAZ fully adjustables for a bargain price of £94. After a bit of fear of crossing threads the new shocks were on and torqued up.

Picture below shows old and new shocks side by side.

Next up was attaching hand brake cables and brake lines, again this went to plan without too much pain, a quick bleed of the brakes and our rear end was finally finished. Wheels were attached and the Renault 5 was finally looking normal again. It appeared that our new rear axle was set to standard ride height so the transformation was quite dramatic (shown in the before and after pictures below).

BEFORE - lowered to death

AFTER - standard ride height

So, the back end was complete, all that was left to do now was fit the turbo.

A trip to Telford

Today was suppose to be the day we were taking the car for its first track day, but instead we were using our day off work to drive to Telford to pick up a new rear axle and forage through random parts in the hope of getting all we needed for our turbo. 

We set off early as the plan was to obtain all the parts we needed and then try and fix up as much as the car as possible, so we arrived in Telford in good time. We had a choice of two rear axles, both were pretty crusty but one had end caps on the torsion bar and was in a lot better health than the one we'd taken off the car and at £40 a real bargain. We then proceeded to look through numerous boxes of turbo parts looking for the oil-in connector that had been alluding us, we were also after an actuator bracket as the standard T2 actuator did not fit. After a good 30 minutes of looking in numerous boxes of old oily Renault 5 parts we found an oil-in line that could be used, but still required an adaptor to fit to the turbo. We were told that a hydraulics company down the road should be able to help with the last remaining part. Next up was the actuator bracket, after another 20 minutes of looking through old oily boxes we found one that fitted, the only bad thing was it was on eBay and someone had already placed a bid. There was only an hour to go on the auction so we decided to head over to the hydraulics company whilst trying to win the auction on eBay for the actuator bracket.

After a short journey down the road we found the hydraulics company, to start with the guy behind the desk looked like he was going to find the adaptor instantly, he seemed to have a sixth sense for thread widths, looking through vast amounts of adaptors and finding parts that would sort of fit but not screw all the way in. (Until now I never realised how many different types of threads there are). After about five or six failed attempts things were not looking good and I was starting to get grumpy, were we ever going to find a part that fitted this Frankenstein turbo? The guy behind the desk now called the manager over and they starting scratching their heads and looking curiously at the hole they were trying to find an adaptor for, finally after lots of head scratching the part was found. This just left the actuator bracket on eBay.

Whilst we had been in the hydraulics shop and off for a chippy lunch the third trackbitch member was at home busy winning actuator brackets on eBay, we only had to out bid the other person by 50p. All that was left now was to drive back to the garage where we'd bought the axle, pay for the actuator bracket and then head back to Manchester.

All parts now in hand we headed back onto the M6, only to be told that the motorway was shut at junction 16, we attempted to come off before the road started to back up and get onto an alternative route before everyone else tried it, the first part of this worked well, but it soon dawned on us that all alternative routes were going to be stupidly busy. Instead of getting home in 1H 15M it took the best part of three hours, this really killed our mechanical time. :o(

By the time we got back it was 4.30 - 5.00, to fit a whole rear axle and new turbo before it goes dark was never going to be possible. So instead of doing two half jobs we focused on the axle, even this proved to be difficult due to moving over brake lines and hub assemblies, but with light fading we managed to get most of the work done, all that was left to do was fit the new shocks and the back end would be finished. However that would have to be left for another day. 

The day had been partly successful but it was appearing that my expectations of how long the mechanics would take to do were very wrong and instead of two days of work and a track day, we'd spent three days working on it with perhaps another one and a half days left of work. In addition, the next time we could all meet up would not be for another two weeks which meant the car was on axle stands til then.

Raising the suspension & fitting the new turbo - Part Two

A trip to Demon Tweeks

We made good time travelling down to Demon Tweeks in Wrexham and things looked promising upon arrival with acres of racing goodies on view. Full racing suites, steering wheels, engine pipes, crash helmets and more gauges than a power station. Surely this would have a few poxy oil attachments and a few other adaptors.

After a few minutes queuing it was our turn at the counter, we presented the sales assistant with our puzzle. 'Have you got an adaptor that will fit between this adaptor and this oil pipe' (drops a load of oil on the floor). The guy behind the desk started to flick through numerous books full of adaptors and pipe fittings. 'I'll be back in a minute'.

After a few minutes he was back looking puzzled and called over the manager, we explained our problem again, whilst dropping more oil on the sales floor and got a glazed look and a sharp intake of breath. 'What's that off mate?' This was not looking good. We felt like saying it Frankenstein's monster but told him what we knew, 'it's for a Renault 5 but has some internals from a Nissan SR20'.

After a lot of scratching of heads and numerous looks of 'are you mental?' it appeared that we were not going to get what we wanted.  A large queue of people buying steering wheels and race shoes was forming behind us, it was time we stopped wasting everyone's time with our impossible shopping list, wiped the oil off the floor and counter and got back to ponder our next steps.

On the way back we had the bright idea of, 'if we can't buy a part we'll make one' and dropped into Screwfix in Warrington to buy a tap & die set. Time was now getting on after our lame attempts at Demon Tweeks and getting lost in Warrington. Finally we got home around 6.30pm and thought we'd try a bit of DIY.

A spot of DIY

We started with the oil in pipe and adaptor, using our new tap and die set we re-threaded our adaptor to once again find it did not fit. We then attempted to saw off the end of our oil pipe, this failed miserably and another part was ruined. Nevermind, let's try and get the actuator off the bracket, without a vice to hold the actuator we sawed through the actuator and ruined it and did not managed to separate it from the bracket. Another part ruined. Time to give up on the turbo and try and tap out the torsion bar from the back end, this resulted in breaking our new tap & die set (cheap Chinese steel) and snapping off a bolt in our torsion bar. All together a pretty crap end to the day. It was time for a beer & BBQ, when was that track day again?

It's a bonnet off job fitting a new turbo.

Day Two - Raising the suspension

There was not much more we could do on the turbo, so we thought it was best to make a start on the rear end and try and sort out the stupidly lowered suspension, we'd worked out that at some point in its life the car had been lowered by 95mm, this is quite a lot and can prevent you from being insured. In theory it can be quite a simple job, remove torsion bar end caps, slip out the torsion bar, rotate the splines as much as you require, put back in and the car is magically higher. However, this is The Baron and he is not simple.

As the car has a body kit, this meant we could not access the torsion bar, we either had to remove the body kit (very messy), drill holes in the body kit (still messy) or take off the whole rear back axle (messy and awkward). We opted for the third option as it should be easier doing the job off the car. To remove the back axle requires undoing the four main bolts which feed into under the rear seats, undoing the brake lines and hand brake cables and undoing the rear shocks. After two or three hours the axle was off, all that was left was to tap the torsion ends and wind out the torsion bars. This is where we hit our next obstacle, the car had no end caps, so many years of road crude had badly corroded our torsion ends, and on one end it looked like someone had actually welded the end together. Our torsion bar was pretty screwed up and no end of belting it with a hammer and tapping with our cheap Chinese steel tap & die set was going to fix it.

Picture of our knackered torsion bar, WD40 and hammering were not going to fix it :o(

So, we'd failed on fitting the turbo and the back end of the car was missing, the shops were shut and there was nothing left we could do, apart from cancel any plans we had of a track day. Our plan was to still use the day off we'd all booked and rather go on a track day we'd continue fixing up the car. We'd drive down to CGB Motorsport in Telford, buy a new rear axle, take our turbo and any other none fitting parts and try and find a match, drive back and fix it up.

It was a shame we'd not achieved what we'd set out to do but we always knew this would not be simple, it's a 22 year old temperamental car after all.